[Christiaan Troo]

hi.

i'm thinking about buying the 1.83 MBP but adding 1g of RAM to it.
i've never owned a mac and have never really had the desire to do so due to its pricey softwares and because i always viewed pc's as somehow more democratic. (but i'll spare you my 2 cents)..

i do all of my work on pc's, including film-editing on Premiere, music composition on Reason and editing/sequencing on Sound Forge for the most part.
i've never wanted to go thru the whole learning process of switching to macs, but since the intel came out, i must admit i've been very drawn to it for the simple reason of having access to use all my Windows applications on such a powerful machine..

so.
my questions are:

1. i'm quite illiterate on the semiology of such terms like "first-gen", "beta", "universal apps" etc, i've always just assumed that computers are computers and will always somehow have little bugs here and there.. they are machines after all. the "whine" doesnt necessarily scare me because most of my computers generated sound at some point or other.
but.
i'd just like to be sure that "universal app(lication?)" means that i'll be able to use my Windows software normally on the MBP.. i do realise there's discussion over the speed of certain software, i'm expecting that, but just need some confirmation that everything will work properly, as in open and function. performance wise, i realise, is a whole other issue..

2. i'm wondering about the difference between the 1.83 and 2.0 for people who mostly make audio/film.. is there such a significant difference in the speed? the RAM to me is absolutely crucial to upgrade, but the processor? what do some of you think?
using Reason and Premiere has always demanded a huge cpu effort on my pc's, but will i really notice an increase in performance?

3. the way i understood it, one has to split the partions for the different operating systems. but will it be easy to access files that are in one thru the other?
say i'm working on a sound file in Logic in OS, and want to transfer it to Premiere on Windows (i do realise Premiere exists for macs but i dont have the money to go buy it),
will it be accessible easily?
has that been a pain for some people working equally on both systems?

i'm trully sorry if these questions have been asked before, i just thought i'd throw them out there before going and spending a huge amount of money that didnt come to me so easily on something i might regret..

cheers!

[jhonizzle]

it sounds to me that your really not going to be using the advantages of using a mac, if your just looking to mainly run Windows anyway...so why don't you just get the Acer TravelMate with the intel CoreDuo in it, about the exact same speed... just seems to me it's a waste for you to have a second OS on there that you basily won't use. Therefor would just be taking up hard disk space which i know is important for audio and video editing.

if i were you i would learn how to use the mace audio and video software because in my opinion it's far supirior to what Windows has to offer. (it's what macs were made for) The MacBook pro is a great computer and i'm one who switched from Windows to Mac. I installed bootcamp a few days ago, and removed it the next day.... just think if what your going for.

get the 2.0 if your going to be using it for audio and video editing because windows runs on a mac but the way the software runs in windows is more demanding of your hardware than Mac software on mac hardware

[Christiaan Troo]

interesting. thanx for your reply and thoughts..

i obviously didnt make it clear, but i *do* intend to eventually learn to use macs for macs, i just havent got access to software so easily because of constant struggle. but one day indeed! i just thought i'd start out with the Windows system, all the while looking into OS and learning its basics for future use.. you know, where is what etc.

but what triggered my mind now was, does one have the choice to decide how much to split the partitions into? you say it will be a waste of hd space, but does that mean i'll have to leave most of it in OS or can i chose whatever suits me..?
i do intend to buy an external hd eventually too, because 80/100g is still peanuts on a large scale.. but still. be nice to know.

[jhonizzle]

OS X takes a lot of hard drive space out of 100gigs on my MBP i had about 80 gigs useable because of OS X. so def get an external drive they make a big difference.

and yes BootCamp lets you choose how much space you want to dedicate to each OS, but XP has a minimuum of 5gigs.

[mduell]

Universal apps has nothing do with Windows. "Universal" means the app will run on PowerPC and Intel Macs under OSX.

The difference between 1.83 and 2.0 is just that, about 9%. I'd spend the money on more memory.

If you use FAT32 (reduced security and maximum file size), you can read and write from OSX to your Windows partition. If you use NTFS (enhanced security and much larger maximum file size), you can only read your Windows partition from OSX. Without additional software you can't do anything with OSX's HFS+ partition from Windows without additional software.

Yes, you can choose how to split your internal drive between OSX and Windows.

As for external drives, the best price/size ratio is 250-300GB for $120-$135.

[volcano]

Originally Posted by appliedacoustics

1. i'm quite illiterate on the semiology of such terms like "first-gen", "beta", "universal apps" etc, i've always just assumed that computers are computers and will always somehow have little bugs here and there.. they are machines after all. the "whine" doesnt necessarily scare me because most of my computers generated sound at some point or other.
but.
i'd just like to be sure that "universal app(lication?)" means that i'll be able to use my Windows software normally on the MBP.. i do realise there's discussion over the speed of certain software, i'm expecting that, but just need some confirmation that everything will work properly, as in open and function. performance wise, i realise, is a whole other issue..

Like mduell stated, "Universal Applications" means an application will work on both a PowerPC and Intel processor on a Mac. It will not work for Windows AND Mac.

Originally Posted by appliedacoustics

2. i'm wondering about the difference between the 1.83 and 2.0 for people who mostly make audio/film.. is there such a significant difference in the speed? the RAM to me is absolutely crucial to upgrade, but the processor? what do some of you think?
using Reason and Premiere has always demanded a huge cpu effort on my pc's, but will i really notice an increase in performance?

The speed increase is minimal. But there a few things to consider: If you get the 2.0GHz stock (meaning, no upgrades) version, you get a larger hard-drive (100GB vs. 80GB), more initial RAM (1GB vs. 512MB), and the most important part: 256MB of VRAM (video RAM) instead of 128MB. That's twice the amount, and depending how much video RAM your Windows-based programs will need, the extra 128MB might come in handy.

Originally Posted by appliedacoustics

3. the way i understood it, one has to split the partions for the different operating systems. but will it be easy to access files that are in one thru the other?
say i'm working on a sound file in Logic in OS, and want to transfer it to Premiere on Windows (i do realise Premiere exists for macs but i dont have the money to go buy it),
will it be accessible easily?
has that been a pain for some people working equally on both systems?

I'm definitey not the right person to ask about this. I have absolutely no idea, since I've never owned or operated a computer with two operating systems before. I'm sure someone else more knowledgeable than I will know.

Originally Posted by appliedacoustics

i'm trully sorry if these questions have been asked before, i just thought i'd throw them out there before going and spending a huge amount of money that didnt come to me so easily on something i might regret

Don't worry about it - we all started somewhere, and trust me: we all had questions. I switched from WIndows to Mac last June, and I did extensive research for a countless amount of months before purchasing my iMac G5. I couldn't be happier with my decision, though. Good luck!

[Christiaan Troo]

thanx all, for your advice and opinions!
you've really helped out one overwhelmed and confused being..
i guess i'll just tough this out and learn how to use this lovely machine, crossing my fingers that all my software needs will be met (as well as land in my hands miraculously)!
and i'm sure everything will fall into place in time.

in the end i think i'll go for the 1.83Ghz and add another 1GB of RAM to make sure it runs smoothly. the extra hd space is a shame to lose but i'll eventually just get an external hd because 20GB in the end isn't *that* much space when we're speaking images.. and well, the loss of the extra 128MB of VRAM i think i can manage without, seeing that it is just a visual thing and doesn't affect the final product (correct me if i'm wrong!)

and if i understood correctly, there will eventually be software fixes to the little bugs known to the first-generation books, which one can easily obtain thru the net or download somewhere? i'd hate to sit around and wait an unclear amount of time for a newer generation to finally come out if this one is on the most part perfectly fine.. unless of course the prices drop a bit which i've been reading!

but thank you all. much appreciated.